Mizaru: See No Evil
by IronAmerica
Summary: Miles sees nothing, says nothing. This is his price to protect his family. First story in the Three Wise Monkeys trilogy.


Hey, it's a new story! Miles sells his soul to save his family.

Un-beta'ed, so quibble away.

- o – o -

Mizaru: See No Evil

Miles knows he's lost the second Bass makes the offer.

"Come back, Miles, and I'll let your family live."

He doesn't resist as he's led away from the tunnel in the Willow Grove power plant. He's led to a large room with a worktable against one wall, next to a bench with worn cushions providing a minimum of padding. Strausser is holding a gun on three people, blood flowing freely from a cut on his forehead. He looks mad. Rachel, Miles' sister-in-law, is cradling her wrist, which is quite obviously broken. Danny is slumped against Charlie, half-conscious.

Bass smiles as he sees the Matheson children sitting with their mother, and pushes Miles down to his knees. The president stands behind his former general, hands lightly touching Miles' shoulders. He smirks at the trio of Mathesons on the bench.

"Miles has agreed to return home," Bass says. He laughs as Charlie gives a yell of outrage and tries to leap forward, only for her brother to restrain her with a light touch and a shake of his head. Danny looks scared. Miles wonders how many of the guards he could kill before they managed to do the same to him—to break him like they had Danny.

The former general looks away as Strausser drags Danny upright and over to a table with thick, padded cuffs at both ends. This is his fault… Bass' fingers are in his hair, forcing him to look at Danny as Strausser forces the boy to lie on the table, restrained by the metal rings. Danny's chest is heaving and he looks terrified.

Miles squeezes his eyes shut as Strausser picks up two copper wires, wrapped in electrical tape and rubber. He begins hyperventilating as Danny begins screaming. He can hear the table shifting and creaking as the teen twists and screams and begins to sob brokenly. Miles doesn't need to watch to see the damage being inflicted, to know what's happening to the boy… He doesn't need to watch to know exactly what the scars on his nephew will look like after Strausser is done.

The scars on his thighs, and the ones on his chest—over his lungs, so perilously close to his heart—ache in sympathy as Danny's broken, weak, whimpering sobs fill the room. Strausser's stopped electrocuting the teen. _Pass out, damn you_, Miles thinks. _Pass out, for the love of god._

"You're a sick bastard," Miles whispers, slumping, as the torn screams fill the room again until, finally, blessedly, Danny passes out. Bass pats Miles on the head and leans down to whisper in his ear.

"If you try to leave, if you breathe wrong, if you _ever_ refuse an order… I will let Strausser kill your nephew, your niece, and that bitch, Nora—she's outside, by the way. Of course, that's saying she's still alive…"

Miles doesn't resist as he's lead away. He doesn't resist as Bass tells the men that General Matheson has come home. His general's finished with the undercover assignment. Bass always was a good liar…

The former general bathes when Bass shows him where to go in Independence Hall, and dresses in a loaned uniform. He's lean and skinny now, almost too thin for the uniform, but it fits anyways. Miles wishes he'd come back under different circumstances. Before, he'd have given anything.

…but that was _before_, when he'd thought Monroe could still be fixed by his reappearance from the wilds of the republic. That was _before_, when he'd thought Monroe just needed him to come home. _Before_, when Miles had still been able to cling to the love he'd felt for Bass. _Before_, when Monroe had still been _Bass_, still been his brother, his lover, his closest friend and confidante.

But that's not now. Not anymore. Now, Bass is gone. It's Monroe who's taken his place. Monroe, the sadistic monster who's the boogeyman for small children on the edges of the republic. "Go to bed, or Monroe will come and take you away." Miles laughs hollowly as he remembers the conversation he'd overheard one night in his bar.

He misses his bar. He knows he can't go back.

Charlie needs him. Danny needs him. So does Nora. Rachel's like a cat—she'll land on her feet. Besides, she's too valuable. She knows how to get the lights back on. Her children are hostages against her good will as much as they are against his.

Miles sits at the table he shared with Jeremy and Bass, so many years ago—it seems so much longer, or maybe he's just getting old. Servants bring in food—enough for three people. Miles doesn't eat until Jeremy and Monroe appear, and sit down. He still waits for an order from Monroe.

He's listless as they finish the meal. Jeremy presses a kiss to his temple. Miles can sense the emotions his old friend is trying to convey—regret, sorrow, a prayer for forgiveness… There are so many tangled emotions there. Miles wishes he could forgive, but he's numb.

Bass drags him over to the bed, and orders him to strip. Miles does and lies back on the bed. He doesn't resist as Bass pounds into him. He tangles his fingers together with Jeremy's and does what he's told. His head bobs up and down between Jeremy's legs as Monroe watches, stroking his own dick with a lazy, sadistic smile on his face.

The next day, Miles is sore. He moves anyways, back to the bathroom. He scrubs until his skin starts peeling.

He sees nothing. This is his penance.

Monroe takes him out to the courtyard shortly after breakfast, and presses a sword into his hand. Five rebels kneel in front of him. The oldest is twenty. The youngest is thirteen. Miles kills the youngest first, slitting her throat—a deep, clean cut. He prepares to slit the next child's throat, but Monroe orders him to be brutal.

Miles sees Charlie pleading with him as he runs the child through. The girl is sixteen, maybe. A year or two younger than Danny. She's got a defiant chin and thin lips that speak to her severity, much more like Charlie than Danny. She dies, blood bubbling up between her lips.

The third child is a boy with red hair, freckles, and an incongruous tan. He struggles to his feet and glares at Miles, a defiant set to his whole body. Miles salutes this one, this soldier-child, with his sword. A gesture of respect. He breaks the boy's neck instead.

The fourth one stares at the ground, looking resigned. Her red-gold hair gleams in the early morning light. She has the greenest eyes Miles has ever seen. They're alive with innocence—resigned to her fate, but knowing nothing will get her out of it. The tip of his sword nicks one of her ribs as Miles slides it between them to stab her in the heart. She collapses on her back, blood bubbling up through her mouth to stain her lips and chin and neck red.

The fifth one, the oldest, pleads, tears streaming down his face and snot bubbling out of his nose. Miles stares at the young man—a pathetic, mewling boy, really, one undeserving to be called a _man_—in disgust. This boy's four companions took their deaths with dignity. Miles has tried to be kind as he's killed them—the smallest mercy he can grant them. He takes his time killing the boy.

He looks away as the bodies are carted away. He can see no evil.

How can he avoid seeing something that just hammers home what he's done?

Monroe is pleased, though. Miles is escorted back to their quarters. He's not allowed to wash the blood off his hands before he's shoved into the sitting room with a gentle push. Charlie recoils in horror, face pale and drawn with fright.

Miles knows she's seen him kill the rebel children.

He doesn't deserve the pity she gives him.

He doesn't deserve it. He's a monster.

He doesn't see evil, because he is.

This is his fault.

- o – o -

So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Has Miles been tortured too much or not enough? Drop a line and let me know!

Author's note: BMotR will have an update by Saturday, saying my head doesn't explode. FOHL will start appearing next week, saying Finals don't kill me.

Author's note 2: This is a response to a prompt over on the Revolution kink meme. Miles comes home to save his family, and Monroe takes advantage of that.


End file.
